


Thirteen Ways of Looking at Rodney

by bironic



Category: 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird - Wallace Stevens, Stargate Atlantis, Wallace Stevens
Genre: Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-02
Updated: 2008-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-03 12:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bironic/pseuds/bironic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city is quiet. Rodney must be keeping watch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirteen Ways of Looking at Rodney

**Author's Note:**

> References events in "The Storm"/"The Eye," "Grace Under Pressure," "The Tao of Rodney" and "Doppelganger."
> 
> Based on the [Wallace Stevens poem](http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/stevens-13ways.html), and inspired by nightdog_barks after [her Wilson poem](http://nightdog-barks.livejournal.com/864261.html).
> 
> Originally posted at <http://bironic.livejournal.com/124765.html>

I  
Among twenty chastised scientists,  
The only moving things  
Were Rodney's hands.

II  
I was of three minds,  
Like a quantum mirror  
In which there are three Rodneys.

III  
Rodney stalled for time in the lashing storm.  
It was a key part of the pantomime.

IV  
Coffee and physics  
Are one.  
Coffee and physics and Rodney  
Are one.

V  
I do not know which to prefer,  
The beauty of calculations  
Or the beauty of the wormhole,  
Rodney smiling  
Or just after.

VI  
The ocean filled the small jumper  
With numbing water.  
The shadow of Sam Carter  
Crossed it, to and fro.  
Rodney  
Followed the shadow  
With fading coherence.

VII  
O morons of Atlantis,  
Why do you imagine kinder tongues?  
Do you not see how Rodney  
Saves the lives  
Of the people around you?

VIII  
I know stubborn assurance  
And trembling, unexpected bravery;  
But I know, too,  
That Rodney is involved  
In what I know.

IX  
When Rodney neared Ascension,  
It marked the edge  
Of one of many circles.

X  
At the sight of Rodney  
Falling in a burst of blue light,  
Even the soldiers of Genii  
Would cry out sharply.

XI  
John stalked through Atlantis  
In people's dreams.  
Once, a fear pierced him,  
In that he mistook  
The shadow of his doppelganger  
For Rodney.

XII  
The city is quiet.  
Rodney must be keeping watch.

XIII  
It was evening all afternoon.  
It was raining  
And it was going to rain.  
Rodney gazed up  
From the balcony.

**Author's Note:**

> jadesfire2808's [Latin translation and remix](http://jadesfire2808.livejournal.com/205480.html)!


End file.
